It's good to welcome lots of new names to the Swinton section of the forum.
Thanks for your positive comments. As I understand it we've made some decent signings (probably on one year contracts - after all do many players sign for longer these days outside SL?) so why are people moaning and coming up with pathetic comments that keeping to the RFL rules is cheating?
OK the rules the RFL have dreamt up in their Wonderland this time might be considered by some as far from ideal, but rules are rules.
What's next? Moaners coming on here saying that putting the ball in the scrum behind the second row's feet and forward passes are against the rules?!!!

A merger is way different from taking dual rev.I assume your a Rovers fan in which case your fortunate.....you as a club are not surrounded by two top class football clubs and a super league club, also you have been fortunate to have yet to suffer financial difficulties and hopefully you never will.
Swinton on the other had have all those problems or at least have had, so it's a bit rich you coming on here telling us our club is wrong to accept and abide by the rules of the competition as dictated by the governing body.

Unfortunately this plays right into the hands of the RFL. They don't want anything other than a feeder system for Super League and if every team in the league had done this it would be the end of rugby league as we know it.

It may cost a team some of their own fans but it may be compensated by supporters of the parent club coming to watch their reserves.

Only time will tell but let's hope this isn't just the tip of the iceberg or the game is ruined.

At the end of the day, swinton are using the system to their advantage! whether the players come from warrington, salford, saints or wigan, on game day they pull on a shirt with the SWINTON LIONS logo on it! The fans sing swinton songs and win lose or draw swinton is the name on the board. just because we use the system to an advantage, people moan. I cant see why, the basis of our squad is Swinton players, smithy, watto, raey, the hawkyards ect Steve and the board have just made our squad better with the inclusion of some quality players from a club we were linked with, under a system that the RFL put into place, so we have therefore done nothing wrong other than try and improve our squad with a quality of player we might not usually have been able to have at the club.

Also if we go out this season and put a good run of games together, and play so good rugby in the process, who's to say that won't do wonders for our club in maybe bringing back some of our fan base, and pushing the development of agecroft. If using the duel reg system is the way for us to become a better club, which in my opinion it will do, then i'm all for it being used to our full advantage!

So Phil you seem to be a man of principle.....on which case you will no longer attend Lions matches home or away

Its a sad reflection on the way the club has handled this matter - that you can make this statement from such a firm foundation, Alan.

Please take a step back and read what follows with an open mind.

I love rugby league and am very proud to have been brought up in M27. Like a good majority of current supporters, my track record of following the Lions goes back to Station Road days. The only real relevence of that last point to this debate and the way forwards is that had the club been in its current form when I was growing up, its unlikely to have ever ignited my interest. The thing that has kept me captivated in the 20 years of exile has been the chance, no matter how small, that the club would some day return to its rightful home and the community that to me is home would be culturally richer as a result.

I have already been through a few years when I took my support elsewhere - during the Gigg Lane era, when it became crystal clear those in charge were doing nothing more than pay lip service to the link between the club and the Swinton community. Their true agenda was all about Bury. At one point they seriously contemplated changing the club's name. Corruption brought them down eventually, a new broom came in and that reignited my interest in the club. It didn't bother me that the new home ground was a flea pit like Moor Lane - the important thing was that the club had its soul back. If the club had relocated to Darwen in 2008 that would definitely have been the end so far as my support of it was concerned. Thankfully John Kidd pulled back from the brink on that very bad idea. This is another very bad idea and the first time since then that, with a very heavy heart, I am having to seriously consider whether the club is now so far removed from the things that matter to me that it has effectively made itself no longer supportable.

Unbeknown to the likes of Glenngary, I have done a lot of campaigning on the subject of Swinton Lions' exile and the need to get the club back into its home community. That work and further campaigning since has involved senior players in local politics and very important entities in the Swinton area such as the schools. I believe the campaigning has made a difference, because it challenged some bad perceptions of the club in the minds of influential people, without turning their views around Agecroft could never even have been countenanced. The whole concept of the club representing the community whose name it bears and being a part of life within the community matters - at least so far as I am concerned.

So I firmly believe that to properly thrive the club needs to have some core principles, some guiding values, some vision as to why it exists that goes beyond merely playing RL. Otherwise I'm fundamentally not a stakeholder - there is nothing relevent for me to buy into, neither financially, practically nor emotionally.

I don't want to support Warrington reserves. I want to support Swinton Lions.

Its a sad reflection on the way the club has handled this matter - that you can make this statement from such a firm foundation, Alan.

Please take a step back and read what follows with an open mind.

I love rugby league and am very proud to have been brought up in M27. Like a good majority of current supporters, my track record of following the Lions goes back to Station Road days. The only real relevence of that last point to this debate and the way forwards is that had the club been in its current form when I was growing up, its unlikely to have ever ignited my interest. The thing that has kept me captivated in the 20 years of exile has been the chance, no matter how small, that the club would some day return to its rightful home and the community that to me is home would be culturally richer as a result.

I have already been through a few years when I took my support elsewhere - during the Gigg Lane era, when it became crystal clear those in charge were doing nothing more than pay lip service to the link between the club and the Swinton community. Their true agenda was all about Bury. At one point they seriously contemplated changing the club's name. Corruption brought them down eventually, a new broom came in and that reignited my interest in the club. It didn't bother me that the new home ground was a flea pit like Moor Lane - the important thing was that the club had its soul back. If the club had relocated to Darwen in 2008 that would definitely have been the end so far as my support of it was concerned. Thankfully John Kidd pulled back from the brink on that very bad idea. This is another very bad idea and the first time since then that, with a very heavy heart, I am having to seriously consider whether the club is now so far removed from the things that matter to me that it has effectively made itself no longer supportable.

Unbeknown to the likes of Glenngary, I have done a lot of campaigning on the subject of Swinton Lions' exile and the need to get the club back into its home community. That work and further campaigning since has involved senior players in local politics and very important entities in the Swinton area such as the schools. I believe the campaigning has made a difference, because it challenged some bad perceptions of the club in the minds of influential people, without turning their views around Agecroft could never even have been countenanced. The whole concept of the club representing the community whose name it bears and being a part of life within the community matters - at least so far as I am concerned.

So I firmly believe that to properly thrive the club needs to have some core principles, some guiding values, some vision as to why it exists that goes beyond merely playing RL. Otherwise I'm fundamentally not a stakeholder - there is nothing relevent for me to buy into, neither financially, practically nor emotionally.

I don't want to support Warrington reserves. I want to support Swinton Lions.

Who cares where the players come from? As long as they're wearing the blue 'n' white of Swinton, I'll be 100% behind them. We've got a squad there that could do some damage in this division and when I look at it, all I can think is "roll on tomorrow!".

Its a sad reflection on the way the club has handled this matter - that you can make this statement from such a firm foundation, Alan.

Please take a step back and read what follows with an open mind.

I love rugby league and am very proud to have been brought up in M27. Like a good majority of current supporters, my track record of following the Lions goes back to Station Road days. The only real relevence of that last point to this debate and the way forwards is that had the club been in its current form when I was growing up, its unlikely to have ever ignited my interest. The thing that has kept me captivated in the 20 years of exile has been the chance, no matter how small, that the club would some day return to its rightful home and the community that to me is home would be culturally richer as a result.

I have already been through a few years when I took my support elsewhere - during the Gigg Lane era, when it became crystal clear those in charge were doing nothing more than pay lip service to the link between the club and the Swinton community. Their true agenda was all about Bury. At one point they seriously contemplated changing the club's name. Corruption brought them down eventually, a new broom came in and that reignited my interest in the club. It didn't bother me that the new home ground was a flea pit like Moor Lane - the important thing was that the club had its soul back. If the club had relocated to Darwen in 2008 that would definitely have been the end so far as my support of it was concerned. Thankfully John Kidd pulled back from the brink on that very bad idea. This is another very bad idea and the first time since then that, with a very heavy heart, I am having to seriously consider whether the club is now so far removed from the things that matter to me that it has effectively made itself no longer supportable.

Unbeknown to the likes of Glenngary, I have done a lot of campaigning on the subject of Swinton Lions' exile and the need to get the club back into its home community. That work and further campaigning since has involved senior players in local politics and very important entities in the Swinton area such as the schools. I believe the campaigning has made a difference, because it challenged some bad perceptions of the club in the minds of influential people, without turning their views around Agecroft could never even have been countenanced. The whole concept of the club representing the community whose name it bears and being a part of life within the community matters - at least so far as I am concerned.

So I firmly believe that to properly thrive the club needs to have some core principles, some guiding values, some vision as to why it exists that goes beyond merely playing RL. Otherwise I'm fundamentally not a stakeholder - there is nothing relevent for me to buy into, neither financially, practically nor emotionally.

I don't want to support Warrington reserves. I want to support Swinton Lions.

Who cares where the players come from? As long as they're wearing the blue 'n' white of Swinton, I'll be 100% behind them. We've got a squad there that could do some damage in this division and when I look at it, all I can think is "roll on tomorrow!".

Its a sad reflection on the way the club has handled this matter - that you can make this statement from such a firm foundation, Alan.

Please take a step back and read what follows with an open mind.

I love rugby league and am very proud to have been brought up in M27. Like a good majority of current supporters, my track record of following the Lions goes back to Station Road days. The only real relevence of that last point to this debate and the way forwards is that had the club been in its current form when I was growing up, its unlikely to have ever ignited my interest. The thing that has kept me captivated in the 20 years of exile has been the chance, no matter how small, that the club would some day return to its rightful home and the community that to me is home would be culturally richer as a result.

I have already been through a few years when I took my support elsewhere - during the Gigg Lane era, when it became crystal clear those in charge were doing nothing more than pay lip service to the link between the club and the Swinton community. Their true agenda was all about Bury. At one point they seriously contemplated changing the club's name. Corruption brought them down eventually, a new broom came in and that reignited my interest in the club. It didn't bother me that the new home ground was a flea pit like Moor Lane - the important thing was that the club had its soul back. If the club had relocated to Darwen in 2008 that would definitely have been the end so far as my support of it was concerned. Thankfully John Kidd pulled back from the brink on that very bad idea. This is another very bad idea and the first time since then that, with a very heavy heart, I am having to seriously consider whether the club is now so far removed from the things that matter to me that it has effectively made itself no longer supportable.

Unbeknown to the likes of Glenngary, I have done a lot of campaigning on the subject of Swinton Lions' exile and the need to get the club back into its home community. That work and further campaigning since has involved senior players in local politics and very important entities in the Swinton area such as the schools. I believe the campaigning has made a difference, because it challenged some bad perceptions of the club in the minds of influential people, without turning their views around Agecroft could never even have been countenanced. The whole concept of the club representing the community whose name it bears and being a part of life within the community matters - at least so far as I am concerned.

So I firmly believe that to properly thrive the club needs to have some core principles, some guiding values, some vision as to why it exists that goes beyond merely playing RL. Otherwise I'm fundamentally not a stakeholder - there is nothing relevent for me to buy into, neither financially, practically nor emotionally.

I don't want to support Warrington reserves. I want to support Swinton Lions.

Surely one of your best ever posting Phill.

For me, and probably quite a few more too, the numero uno target is to finally return to the borough of S&P.THAT has been MY main focus for many, many years. And it's about time it really started to physically take shape.

I can only say this Phil. ..you drifted off to Leigh for a few seasons. I remember you still came on the swinton forum.
I think you are pretty unique in that respect.
I fail to see the relevance of your campaigning . We've all done our bit. Some of it financially or in others.
Look at people like riggy, spelly, barbara, , martin, paul Davison. I am yet to see them mention there unsung and free efforts of time money and inspiration.
If you were one of our diplomats I wonder did you get it all wrong?
Who knows how this will pan out? Ive asked this question and I don't know the answer. So many hate filled people seem to instantly be experts.
I approach it with an open mind. Many of us with just as big a stake holding as you both financially and spiritually will too.
I tell you again that if you think you are the only person who believes that a return to m27 is imperative and a firm local backing and background essential than you are misguided and misunderstand so many of the arguments put to you by me and many others.